Anveshana: Take A Visual Tour Of Indian Communities With This Coffee Table Book

Anveshana: Yaatra of Vanavasi, Sancharavasi and Gramavasi Communities of India. Indica. Notion Press. 2023. Pages 220. Rs 3,000.

How diverse is India and its expression through myriad communities! It is here, in fact, that India, that is Bharat, shines most.

Anveshana, a new coffee table book by Indica Pictures, focuses on the vanavasi, sancharavasi, and gramavasi communities of India.

Born out of the Indica Culture Photography Grant 2021, the book features the work of eight upcoming photographers from all over the country. The featured photos accompany well-written text on each of the eight indigenous communities covered in the book.

The Indica Culture Photography Grant 2021 is an initiative of Indica Pictures. Indica Pictures is a vertical, along with Chitraayana, within Indica, a non-profit organisation that's focused on reviving Indic civilisational values. Chitraayana is dedicated to coffee table books.

Anveshana was launched at a well-attended event at Dhi Artspace, a premier art gallery, in Hyderabad's Ameerpet in the evening of 12 January 2023.

At the event, Indica director Dr Nagaraj Paturi talked about how the subject of the book is a door to the vast subject of indigenous people in India and the opportunity that exists for others to become yaatris (travellers) to discover the profundity that is embedded in India.

Indica Pictures chief curator Danji Thotapalli spoke about the journey, including how they overcame challenges faced due to the Covid-19 pandemic in completing the shoots.

Chitraayana director Jay Jina offered thanks to all the stakeholders of the project — the jury board, grantees, writers, design agency, and print house.

Two grantees, Devika Sukumaran and Abdul Munaff, shared their thoughts at the launch as well.

The guests at the event were Jawaharlal Nehru Architecture and Fine Arts University Vice Chancellor, Professor Kavita Daryani Rao; IAS — Commissioner, Collegiate Education & Technical Education, Government of Telangana, Navin Mittal; and Dhi Artspace founder-director Bhargavi Gundala.

The guests of honour unwrapped the coffee-table book and announced its availability on Amazon and Flipkart for purchase.

"Going beyond the ordinary, Anveshana will prompt curiosity and fuel a quest for meaning," says the publisher Notion Press.